https://sputnikglobe.com/20240923/us-shipping-industry-exhibits-harrowing-statistics-regarding-sexual-assault-rape---report-1120252683.html
US Shipping Industry Exhibits Harrowing Statistics Regarding Sexual Assault, Rape - Report
US Shipping Industry Exhibits Harrowing Statistics Regarding Sexual Assault, Rape - Report
Sputnik International
Allegations of assault that occur in the shipping industry have put the industry under scrutiny which has not kept up with the gender equality-based changes that other industries have gone through in the #MeToo era.
2024-09-23T05:37+0000
2024-09-23T05:37+0000
2024-09-23T05:37+0000
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A recent report from the Wall Street Journal has highlighted the significant issue of rape and sexual assault at sea. Allegations of assault that occur in the shipping industry have put the industry under scrutiny which has not kept up with the gender equality-based changes that other industries have gone through in the #MeToo era.The report detailed one harrowing case, during which a 19-year-old girl who was training to be an engineer was aboard a US-flagged car carrier vessel in the Red Sea in 2019. She said a group of senior officers coerced her to take repeated shots of liquor before one of them followed her back to her cabin and raped her. She then woke up to find blood on her sheets and bruises all over her body.The US Coast Guard charged the senior engineer, a man named Edgar Sison, with sexual assault following the attack, however they dropped the charge after he voluntarily surrendered his merchant mariner license last year. Sadly, Hicks isn’t alone. Many cases such as these remain unprosecuted.Overall, in the US less than 1% of rapes and attempted rapes end with a felony conviction for the perpetrator, The Washington Post reported in 2018. Yet, nearly 90% of rape and sexual assault victims report “some level of distress including high rates of physical injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and substance abuse”.A survey from 2021 conducted by the International Transport Workers' Federation found that 60% of women seafarers reported experiencing sexual harassment on board. And a 2020 report by the Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (MLAA) revealed several accounts of sexual harassment and assault on commercial vessels, cruise ships and in maritime academies.Officials from the US Justice Department said that the department prefers to have the Coast Guard address investigations into sexual harassment and abuse off shore because the cases are “complicated and difficult to prosecute”, the report explained.In 2022, Congress passed a law in an attempt to strengthen oversight and investigations of alleged sexual assault and harassment in the shipping industry, the Journal’s report said. However, despite the new laws prosecution remains rare.
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US Shipping Industry Exhibits Harrowing Statistics Regarding Sexual Assault, Rape - Report
In the American shipping industry, about 95% of ship officers are male and the chain of order is strict. The system makes it that much more difficult for victims to bring their allegations to light.
A recent report from the
Wall Street Journal has highlighted the significant issue of rape and sexual assault at sea. Allegations of assault that occur in the shipping industry have put the industry under scrutiny which has not kept up with the gender equality-based changes that other industries have gone through in the #MeToo era.
The report detailed one harrowing case, during which a 19-year-old girl who was training to be an engineer was aboard a US-flagged car carrier vessel in the Red Sea in 2019. She said a group of senior officers coerced her to take repeated shots of liquor before one of them followed her back to her cabin and raped her. She then woke up to find blood on her sheets and bruises all over her body.
The US Coast Guard charged the senior engineer, a man named Edgar Sison, with sexual assault following the attack, however they dropped the charge after he voluntarily surrendered his merchant mariner license last year. Sadly, Hicks isn’t alone. Many cases such as these remain unprosecuted.
Overall, in the US less than 1% of rapes and attempted rapes end with a felony conviction for the perpetrator, The Washington Post reported in 2018. Yet, nearly 90% of rape and sexual assault victims report “some level of distress including high rates of physical injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and substance abuse”. “There has been an increasing awareness of violence and harassment occurring on ships, including sexual harassment, which compound the already challenging working conditions,” an International Maritime Organization spokeswoman said.
28 January 2019, 15:22 GMT
A
survey from 2021 conducted by the International Transport Workers' Federation found that 60% of women seafarers reported experiencing sexual harassment on board. And a 2020 report by the Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (MLAA) revealed several accounts of sexual harassment and assault on commercial vessels, cruise ships and in maritime academies.
Officials from the US Justice Department said that the department prefers to have the Coast Guard address investigations into sexual harassment and abuse off shore because the cases are “complicated and difficult to prosecute”, the report explained.
In 2022, Congress passed a law in an attempt to strengthen oversight and investigations of alleged sexual assault and harassment in the shipping industry, the Journal’s report said. However, despite the new laws prosecution remains rare.
